A second school in Panama City is sending students home after a recent outbreak in COVID-19 infections.
All students at Southport Elementary School will complete the last four days of instruction before winter break virtually after nearly a quarter of the student body was ordered to quarantine at home. Starting on Tuesday, teachers and support staff will work from their classroom, streaming video lessons via Canvas for the rest of the week.
"We will always be focused on the safety of our students and staff first and so we believe closing the campus is the right thing to do at this time,” Superintendent Bill Husfelt wrote in a recent press release announcing the decision.
The school's closure comes as the Florida Department of Health in Bay County is reporting a 12% positivity rate for the week of Dec. 5 - 11. In that same seven-day period, there were 106 emergency room visits by patients who reported having COVID-19 like symptoms, which include cough, fever and shortness of breath. There were 25 emergency room visits for flu-like illness.
Students will return to school for in-person instruction at the end of the holiday break on Jan. 4.
"We know this is a difficult decision for our families and we wish that we did not have to take measures like this," Husfelt said. "But safety is always our number one priority and we will continue to make the best decisions we can.”
Last week the district sent home all 9-12 grade students at the Deane Bozeman School, also located in Panama City, after 10 students tested positive and 189 were ordered to self-isolate. Only students who've had close contact with an infected person are ordered to quarantine at home.
The state Department of Health defines a "close contact" as someone who spends a total of 15 minutes or longer within six feet or less of an infected person, regardless of mask-wearing.
“The spikes are coming from their social interactions and extra curricular activities," Husfelt said at a press conference last week. "Those are the two areas where this is happening."
All after-school activities at Southport Elementary School have also been cancelled this week.
Gulf District Schools has announced plans to extend students' holiday break. Schools will dismiss students for break at noon on Wednesday instead of next week. The decision wasn't due to an outbreak on campus, Superintendent Jim Norton wrote in a recent post on the district's Facebook page.
"We hope this will add a little more relaxation to what we pray is a restful holiday season," Norton wrote.
